STAPP FACTS
Full Name:
Scott Alan Stapp
Birthday:
August 8, 1973 (he just turned 29)
Birth Place:
Orlando, Florida
Current Location:
Orlando, Florida
Favorite food:
Shrimp
Favorite Hobby:
Sports
Height:
5 foot 10 inches
Marital Status:
Divorced from Hillaree
Children:
One little boy, Jagger
Started Singing:
In school choir
Influences:
Led Zeppelin, U2, The Doors
Favorite Album:
U2's Joshua Tree -- I want to run, I want to hide, I want to tear down the walls on the inside!
Past Jobs:
Janitor, TGI Friday's, Oyster Shucker
Stress Releiver Before Shows:
Ping Pong
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Since Scott Stapp was a baby, his parents brought him to church as often as possible. Church and religion were a major part of his life growing up. In fact, his father and mother were so strict about it that any rock music that Scott liked to listen to was forbidden in their household. Scott loved music such as Led Zeppelin, but his parents considered it of the devil.
Anytime Scott would get in trouble, his parents would make him copy the Bible as punishment. He was forced to do this so many times that it later showed up in his lyrics.
Even as a child, Scott loved to perform. He loved to sing and would perform with his brothers and sisters (including Amie, who's vocals later appeared in "Don't Stop Dancing, from Creed's third album, Weathered.) Scott's minister told Scott that he had a gift and would touch people's lives with it one day. And was he ever right.
As Scott grew older, he became more and more frusterated with his life. He struggled through high school socially, and got made fun of alot. This stemmed from the fact that he had been sheltered by his parents his whole life.
Scott went through alot. In his life he had been taught that honesty leads you to forgiveness. But when Scott played around with drugs at school, was questioned, and then confessed, he was expelled. This left him very confused. It was as though all he had learned and known was wrong.
So one night Scott snuck out his window with a bag of personal items and crept across his lawn. He put his car in neutral and rolled out of the driveway. He then pushed his car down the road aways and took off, leaving his life, his family, and even his high school buddy, Mark Tremonti, behind.
At one point, Scott was desperate for a place to go, so he asked his grandparents for money for an apartment. They did all they could for him, but it was only enough for the roof over his head. He did not even have enough money for furniture, his phone, or even his electricity. He was sleeping on a bed of towels with nothing but a pen and pad of paper. So he wrote and wrote.
The things Scott wrote were all about his frusterations and his uncertain life. They were the anger and confusion he had inside of him, and they were his thoughts about his situation and his outlook on everything he had experienced so far in life. The things Scott wrote were Creed's future lyrics to songs such as Torn, although he did not know it at the time.
But one day Scott's life began to turn around. Although his parents would offer him nothing as a result of his rebellious escape, he was fortunate enough to find his old friend from school, Mark Tremonti. Mark was at a party, playing guitar, when the two stumbled upon each other. They immediately began to play together, and wrote a couple songs even the first night. Mark would play and Scott would sing over it. They decided they might be able to make something of it and decided to form a band. Scott, determined to make this work, recruited a bassist and a drummer. The bassist was Brian Marshall and the drummer was a guy that never actually was a part of Creed.
Not that he wasn't going to be. It just happened that one day when the band was practicing, Scott Phillips dropped by to watch. When Scott Stapp and the former drummer took a break, Scott Phillips sat in while Mark played. That's when Creed found their drummer and asked Scott Phillips to join the band. With their lineup officially complete, Creed formed under their first title, Naked Toddler.
Naked Toddler was the name of a newpaper article that Mark carried around in his wallet. But since it seemed to scare people away, the band came up with the word "Creed" which meant "a beleif" or "a following". This word was perfect for Stapp.
Creed eventually found a bar to play at. The bartender that night thought Creed was so good that he called up his friend, Jeff Hansen who later became Creed's manager.
Creed signed up with Wind-Up records and scraped up enough money to record their first album, My Own Prison. Fame came more slowly that the guys had suspected, but it came, nevertheless.
Now Scott's relationship with his father has gone from nothing back up to good, partly because of Hilaree's and his son, Jagger. (Hilaree is Scott's ex-wife.) Scott's relationship with his mother is back to good also--she comes to all the Creed shows she can, dressed as a "rockstar mom".
Part of the reason, though, that Scott and his parents reformed their relationship was because his parents could see his responsibility and honesty through his music. Lyrics such as those that go "I cried out to God seeking only his decision, Gabriel stands and confirms I created my own prison" show that Scott admitted that he was wrong and that he had in fact created his own hardships, or is own prison. The lyrics also showed Scott's continuously strong beleif in God which his father accepted him for once again.
Now Scott Stapp along with the rest of Creed, including bassist fill in Brett Hestla, tour all over the world. Scott's amazing voice, Mark's whaling guitar, and Scott Phillips's unbeatable drums seems to touch the lives of people of all ages. There are many people out there who love Creed's music, but even more who love the band itself.
Scott may have faced almost intolerable hardships in his life. But his determination, will, and beleif got him where he is today. And an uncountable number of people, I know, are thankful beyond words that he has.
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